Founded March 2007 Registration no. 1120999 | Type Registered charity Focus NHS motorcycle courier | |
Area served Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, North Wiltshire Revenue £54,470 (year ending 31 Dec 2010) | ||
Severn Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service is a Blood Bikes charity based in the Severn Valley in western England. Founded in 2007, it provides a free motorcycle courier service to hospitals in the region, operating a fleet of emergency-equipped motorcycles which are ridden and co-ordinated by volunteers. Severn Freewheelers is a founder-member of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes (NABB) and co-operates with similar organisations in the area including Freewheelers EVS (Bristol and Somerset), SERV (south England) and Midland Freewheelers (north-west Birmingham).
Contents
Operations
Severn Freewheelers works for hospitals in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and north Wiltshire, with its operations extending into southern Birmingham and Coventry. Major hospitals served include Gloucester Royal, Cheltenham General, Worcester Royal, Redditch Alexandra and Swindon Great Western, with many smaller hospitals also served including Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, Malvern, Tenbury Wells, Evesham, Pershore, Tewkesbury, Moreton-in-Marsh, Cinderford, Stroud, Dursley, Cirencester, Chippenham and Savernake.
Operating between 7 pm and 7 am on weekdays and 24 hours at weekends and public holidays, the charity provides a fast and reliable service enabling hospitals to avoid the need to use taxis or commercial couriers, saving the NHS an estimated £150,000 each year across the area.
All riders hold an advanced motorcycling certificate from RoSPA or the IAM, or an equivalent police qualification, and riders are regularly re-assessed to ensure high standards are maintained.
By September 2016, the charity had covered over 1,175,000 miles, had responded to more than 30,000 calls, and was receiving over 300 calls each month. Items carried include samples for pathological or micro-biological analysis, blood and blood products for transfusion, patient notes, drugs, scans and medical equipment. A recent development has been the collection of human breast milk from donors’ homes and its transport to human milk banks at Oxford, Bristol and Birmingham.
Fund-raising
In 2011 the charity held its first Prescott Bike Festival at the Prescott Hill Climb circuit near Bishop’s Cleeve in Gloucestershire, which attracted some 5,000 visitors. This has since become a regular event in April each year, and is complemented by a similar event at the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb circuit from September 2015.
It also mounts displays at local shows such as the Three Counties Show, the Cotswold Show, the Emergency Services Show, and local music festivals, and attends motorcycle safety events such as BikeSafe. Several motorcycling celebrities including racers Carl Fogarty and Jamie Whitham have offered to help support the charity in raising funds to support its work.